Advice for negotiating?

Inspector71

In 2006, I bought a red Nissan Pathfinder LE. It is loaded and now has 23K miles. I wanted a 350Z but my wife said no way. Now she tells me I should have bought the Z because I don't drive the SUV very often (gas mileage, size of vehicle, etc). I put no money down and financed everything. My payment is $643 a month which is $243 dollars a month more than I wanted to pay. Okay, Nissan says they want my low mileage Pathfinder and will trade for the 370Z. I have one picked out whose base price is $28K but marked up to $31+K. It wouldn't be worth it for me to "give away" my loaded Pathfinder to absorb a payment in the same range. What is the bottom-line price I can realistically expect if they really want the SUV and I stick to my budget...this time? Thanks. I have an appointment this Friday.

alvinmathew88

We know nothing about your Pathfinder other than the mileage, and your payments on it. So price the estimated Trade-in-value at Kelley Blue Book or a similar car appraisal site.

Then Go to this website: Calculator to create realistic offers for a new car purchase (C) 2009 Ranchopedro

And punch in MSRP & Invoice (which can be found at Edmunds.com) from your customized Z.

Holdback for Nissan = 2%
Registration & Taxes = vary by state

You should get a rough estimate of where you should be...

Enjoy!

Inspector71

Great advice. I read the other advice already here and it is great. The MSRP is around 29,700 and I have an MSRP on an Rx-8 for around 27,500. So, this gives me some idea of what I must shoot for. Thanks. Great advice here.

davidyan

If you're trading in, try to keep the discussion of the price of the 370Z and Pathfinder as separate as possible otherwise it becomes easy to get lost in the numbers ie, its easy for them to discount the 370Z and make it up by buying the Pathfinder low (or vice versa) without you noticing unless you are very fast with mental math. So make sure you have a clear understanding of the price for both. When the dealer starts talking bundled price, steer the conversation back to the price they will pay for the Pathfinder and the sale price of the 370Z. Also, figure out how much you owe on the Pathfinder vs. how much they will offer for it. If you're upside down on the trade you may want to rethink purchasing now.

Also, you mentioned the base price for the 370Z is 28 and marked up to 31K. Since you didn't mention the features of the car, is the 29 the base MSRP with options, base MSRP without options, the or base MSRP with options and an additional dealer markup? This would make a big difference in determining the "fair price" to offer.

Cjanik

In addition to what Davidyan said, most of us have been able to get Z's for Invoice. So you should be able to shoot for invoice.

Division

My best advice - be informed. Know the cars cost, know your trade-in's value. If your financing- Know your credit score, get pre-approved at a credit union. Knowledge is power.

In addition to being informed- be ready to buy. If the dealer walks back to you with a kickass deal, and you're wishy-washy... no good.

I had good luck with bringing truecar.com printouts to my dealer. I had my trade in appraised by CarMax and brought that with me as well. Taking in the 'official invoice pricing chart' from this site was also very helpful.

For good measure I brought some car magazines, and information on the other cars I was looking at... I was this dealers sale to lose.

Inspector71

I have received truly valuable advice on this forum and I thank you. I did some research as you advised. I found the average price for a red 2006 Pathfinder LE (loaded with boze, sun roof etc) with 23K miles like mine is $19,500. I owe $25,600. The MSRP for the Z I looked at, base model in red with a six-speed transmisson, just what I wanted, is a little over $29,000. My payment on the Pathfinder is $643 a month...ouch. The only way I can see a deal is by Nissan paying off my Pathfinder and adding $6K to $8K (more) to the price of the Z raising it roughly to $36 to $38K for the base Z. If I was young, single, and making lots of money, and just had to have it...
It seems to me that I need to wait a while. I guess my fear is that this car may no longer be made in a few years or the price will escalate out of reach. Again, thanks for great advice.

stonepilot

I'll tell you what i did. I traded in my 350z a few weeks ago. I went on edmunds.com and read some info on their on prices on the 370z. I sent out for quotes and got a dealer to go invoice on it with no destination fee.
Since I was trading in my 350z I went and got it appraise at Carmax. They'll do it for free and it gives you a ballpark idea on how much you can actually get, and they give it to you in writing. Went to dealer, and they quoted me 1K under what carmax was offer. Pulled out the offer and said this is what my car is worth, they match it. I got what i wanted out of it.

When doing it through emails which most dealer will do, Agree on a price, ask for exactly what you want. I went as far as askin for out the door price. This way you take away the preasure of having to make decission on the the spot.

when you get their all you do is sign paper work. Done. You, is a bit more complicated cause of the trade in. It can be done tho.

dad

These may help:
Maintenance-Car bibles

New Car Buying 101. Please Read Before Buying Your Nissan 370Z

__________________

We can do without any article of luxury we have never had; but once obtained, it is not in human nature to surrender it voluntary.

Matt

My advice to you is to NOT go "upside down" on a loan. If you really want the car, wait until you have enough cash saved to take care of the Pathfinder's negative equity AND put a small portion down on the Z.

ejrives

indeed! Going upside down is a bad thing. It will start a car downward spiral, unless you plan on keeping the Z for a really long time.

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"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
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